Only Existing Video of Anne Frank Video Is Released

I think the lesson to learn from this video is chilling, yet simple. Anne Frank had a life before she was forced into hiding. She was a little girl who was free. But, that was taken away from her.

We must remain vigilant and not take our freedom and basic rights for granted. There will always be totalitarian forces scheming to grab power at the expense of minorities, who they scapegoat. It is our duty to stop them.

This is particularly true of gay people. We have been foisted into the front lines to battle insidious forms of would-be religious dictatorship. While much of America sleeps, our very love and lives have depended on being acutely aware of danger posed by such demagoguery. Let us never forget that we can either steer history, or be the victims of its its cruel and unforgiving tides.

It is at once joyous and heartbreaking to see a carefree Anne Frank – just a small girl enjoying the fresh air on her balcony and excited over a neighbors wedding. In her memory and that of millions of others, we must move forward carrying the banner of justice and liberty for all people.

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About the Author

Wayne Besen is the Founding Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth” (Haworth, 2003). In 2010, Besen was awarded the “Visionary Award” at the Out Music Awards for organizing the American Prayer Hour, an event which shined a spotlight on the role American evangelicals played in the introduction of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

6 Comments

brad andersonOctober 4, 2009 at 9:16 pm -

wayne
do i understand this correctly? sre you comparing
those of us who do not support homosexuality
with the nazi regime? your hypocracy is
appalling. if i remember correctly you slammed
the teabagger protests for the signs comparing
obama to hitler, and now you are dong the same
thing to us. I have no use for those who use
such tactics no matter whether they are democrat or
republican, liberal or conservative. I would hope that
you would agree with me wayne that neither your
side or mine is well served at all by using
such tactics, and it is time to stop. both
sides should be able to articulate thier beliefs
and live by those beliefs without fear that the
other side will compare them to hitler and the
nazi regime for doing so

Mike AOctober 4, 2009 at 11:17 pm -

Brad,

You have made clear in several previous comments that you are not merely an innocent non-supporter of homosexuality.

The current U.S. Christian Rightist leadership of the ex-gay political movement lies about, dehumanizes, and demonizes not only gay people, but also Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and agnostics.

The Christian Rightist members of the Freedom Federation and Arlington Group — in particular, Exodus, Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, Traditional Values Coalition, American Family Association, Coral Ridge, and Concerned “Women” for America — single out minority families for defamation, harassment, bullying, discrimination, eviction, social ostracism, and — in places like Jamaica and Uganda — imprisonment and murder. These Christian Rightists earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year, not by defending true religious freedom or by acting as self-sacrificial shepherds, givers, or healers, but by scaring the bejeezus out of people and prompting them to hate neighbors whose family, religious, or cultural values are freer or less ignorant than their own.

As I said, gay people are not the only target of this movement. Tony Perkins recently demonized a peaceful gathering of Muslims on the National Mall; Perkins claimed simultaneously that the Muslims were too few to be worth gathering, and yet a threat to America. Meanwhile, Jewish children are routinely harassed by evangelical teachers in rural and Bible Belt public schools. And it’s more than a little ironic that the Hindu husband of antigay marriage activist Maggie Gallagher does not appear with Gallagher at National Organization for (Heterosexual) Marriage events because his religious values have been openly reviled by the Christian Rightists who support Gallagher’s organization and attend her events.

Before being outlawed entirely, Anne Frank’s family was progressively shunned, demonized, defamed, ostracized, and discriminated against for a decade by German Christians who boasted of their victimhood at the hands of supposedly wicked and amoral Jews who wanted special rights and who supposedly enjoyed elite privileges.

Holocausts are permitted by selfish people who excuse and dismiss uncivilized hatred and overt bigotry, and who prefer instead to whine about their own victimhood, even as they strive to deny other people freedom and equal opportunity.

Brad, judging from your latest comment, you seem to prefer shouting down history instead of learning from it. Judging from your past comments, you seem willing to act as a bystander who chooses to ignore the corruption of Christian churches by those who possess an obsessive hatred of gay people and an inability or unwillingness to practice true community values in a modern society.

A couple decades ago, Christian Rightist communities such as yours abandoned the values of true Christian charity and self-sacrifice. Collectively, you have become selfish and closed to criticism. When any one of many different sides points out your corruption, you insist — as you did in your latest comment — that they silence themselves.

How convenient. You believe that various sides should be able to articulate their beliefs — but only so long as you are permitted to post comments consisting of strawman arguments and disrespect for history, while the other sides nod politely.

The Nazis were not history’s only genocidal gang of “values voters,” and Jews are not the only victim of such holocausts. But the propaganda tactics that lead mobs of people to demonize demographic minorities, to deny liberty to them, and then sometimes to commit holocausts, are well worth remembering. Unfortunately, Christian Rightists have sought to learn these tactics — not to prevent them, but to adopt them, even as they urge masses of followers to remain ignorant, selfish, and self-pitying.

You can go on telling people to shut up, Brad, but I suspect few people are impressed by your self-pity.

I made a clear point that we must be vigilant and guard freedom. That the biggest threat to liberty in America, obviously, are those on the extreme right who lie and smear opponents as you unsuccessfully attempted to just do.

It is quite telling that you compared your movement to the Nazi regime, not me. Perhaps, you have a guilty conscience about some of the tactics that you and your movement use. In making this connection – one I did not make, as there was no direct comparison, as you wrongly suggest – you may be projecting your own underlying feelings about yourself and those for which you shill. If I were you I would look in the mirror and seriously examine this.

Your attempt to make homosexuality appear to be a “normal” activity sickens me. What you are doing is an abomination. Please, don’t be guilty of using the Holy Scripture to try and support your wicked, chosen lifestyle. The Bible is VERY CLEAR concerning homosexuality…it is SIN! I would say to you what the Word of God has always said “Repent” and allow the Lord to save your soul. He will deliver you if you will repent.

Dr. E

Priya LynnOctober 7, 2009 at 9:31 pm -

“E”, gayness, like lefthandedness is normal for a minority of the population. Anything that does not harm others is by definition moral. Your attempt to demonize loving gay couples and oppose their relationships is harmful and by definition immoral. Your god is imaginary, your bible fiction and no one need take orders from bronze age bigots.

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Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that fights the "ex-gay" myth and antigay religious extremism.

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